Deaf Girl Signing to Carrie Underwood's "The Champion" Video
This Girl's Sign Language Version of Carrie Underwood's "The Champion" Just Gave Us Straight-Up Chills
Savannah Dahan is indeed a "champion." The 8-year-old girl who is deaf recently performed "The Champion" by Carrie Underwood feat. Ludacris using sign language, and it was so impressive, we're sure it would score her a ticket to Hollywood. Savannah's father Richard recorded her signing to the song and even he was blown away by it. "To be honest I did not expect that coming from her!" he wrote on Facebook alongside the video that has over 2 million views since being posted on March 9.
In the song, Carrie sings, "I am invincible, unbreakable, unstoppable, unshakable / They knock me down, I get up again / I am the champion." Between the lyrics of the song and Savannah's level of passion, we can't help but tear up over her ASL performance . . . and by the time she gets to Ludacris's rap verse, whew, chills.
Richard told Today that "she was born with moderate/severe hearing loss." Savannah's parents and two siblings are also deaf. "Because everyone is deaf in the family and uses ASL (American Sign Language) to communicate, she identifies herself as deaf. She uses hearing aids at times at school and home," he said, adding that the way she interprets music is also an entirely different process. "She first memorizes the lyrics and then learns to match the beats with those lyrics . . . [She] loves to sign songs in the same way as other kids [love] to sing."
After learning that her ASL version of "The Champion" went viral, Savannah's family shared her reaction in a separate video — and it's so damn pure. "We hope the video will show the importance of early exposure to ASL and for the world to see kids with proper communication access at school and home can express themselves just as rich and beautiful as kids that can hear," Richard said.
